Advent Calendar of Movies: Day 17

If you’re in love with Emma Stone please raise your hand. What’s that? Everyone? I thought so. Pop Culture Monster too is enamoured of this bright young thing, so he was monstrously excited at the prospect of 90 minutes of her.

Easy A follows Olive Penderghast through high school as she “ruins [her] flawless reputation”. In an attempt to help out a bullied classmate, Olive allows him to brag about having slept with her and what starts out as a little white lie soon spirals wildly out of control. With the real details of the arrangement getting out, other put-upon students start coming to her in attempt to boost their cool and soon half the school has “slept” with her.

The cast of Easy A are eminently likeable, with Olive’s parents – Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson – stealing the show. Penn Badgely is a perfectly suitable leading man, while Amanda Bynes is a cringe-worthy Christian nemesis and Lisa Kudrow gets her teeth into one of the films meatier roles.